Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/82255
Fan Forum Playing To Strengths If Notre Dame football is to be successful we must run the ball and control the clock. The defensive backfield is inexperienced and will be exploited by Michigan, Oklahoma, Stanford, Michigan State and USC. Two things are required: keep the ball out of their hands and put tremendous pressure on the quarterback, thereby protecting the cornerbacks. If we have second down and two… run it again! In the Navy game, the defensive line and linebackers stayed in their lanes throughout the game, a thing of beauty. We haven’t seen this since the days of Joe Yonto (defensive line coach from 1964-80, and 1986‑87) and Barry Alvarez (1988-89 defensive coordinator). We have a first-year QB, four great running backs and a good offensive line … this means grind it out on the ground. If we must pass, the tight ends and backs must pick up the blitzers. Running backs didn’t play for Lou Holtz if they couldn’t block. This could be an interesting and rewarding year, but it demands constraint on the part of our coaching staff. We will not be able to compete in a wide open “run and shoot” style of play. George Casey Camdenton, Mo. From The Website Normally, we try to avoid printing just one response to a hot-button topic. Last week, we printed several on the controversy that emanated from former Notre Dame All-American running back Allen Pinkett’s statement that the Irish football team needs more “criminals.” Here was a powerful response to its hue and outcry that led to Pinkett getting suspended for three games from covering the Notre Dame radio broadcasts on IMG. Risksorter: This issue goes to the heart of the self-contradictory nature of college football. A game I love like no other. I mention this because one might question if I like football at all given the following remarks. I assure you, though, that I do and am not just an old cynic. Without directly opining on what Pinkett said, I would just like to clarify that college football is a nasty, brutal game — not as vicious as pro football, but it’s only a difference of quantity, not quality. The tougher your team, the more violent and less socialized your players, the better you are likely to do. Sure, you need smart players, too, but just because a guy is a potential bouncer, boxer or felon does not mean he is stupid. Look at guys like Mike Ditka or Mike Tyson. A little crazy? Yes. But not stupid. Among many fans, there remains this notion that you can play — particularly at Notre Dame — a kind of chivalric football, using Marquise of Queensbury rules and relying on a cast of Jack Armstrong-types, intent on good, clean fun. I think that’s how we often wish to see it. In truth, we are watching a game that is intentionally violent and, whether you get blindsided by a so-called tough guy like Aaron Lynch, or by someone less overtly warlike, the result will be the same. Nasty is nasty, and there is no more sought after quality on a football team than that. You want guys who can knock the snot out of one another, block, tackle, throw their heads in there, sacrifice their bodies and not worry about inflicting permanent damage on their brain tissue. Given that college football is sponsored by, of all things, universities, the violence aspect of the game must be continually massaged with rallies, new uniforms, TV coverage, new stadiums, media puff pieces, human interest stories, crisp fall weather, marching bands, female reporters, polished coaches, seer-like athletics directors, QB camps, and the whole pomp and circumstance that is the COLLEGE FOOTBALL BUSINESS. Yes, CFB is in the VIOLENCE BUSINESS for the entertainment and purchasing power of millions upon millions. Whereupon, every now and then, someone —- somewhere within this system that is forever stroking and kidding itself — unwittingly channels its collective unconscious, releasing, in the process, some taboo. Let me repeat, I love the game and, for that sin, who knows what I’m in for, but I have no illusions about what is going on here, nor, would I expect, do many of the rest of you. We are complex creatures capable of enjoying what, at other times, we might deplore. We pick our battles and beliefs. Watching this game is a lot easier than playing it, and those of you who did play, who cannot help but know this, can’t tell me that you’re not aware of what a lie it can look like from this, the safe side of the TV, as opposed to the mashing that actually takes place. It is a violent game, and the tougher your players, the better you will do. How colleges sort that out versus their higher purpose is the stuff of fantasy, complicity and All-American PR. Their goal is to sanitize the violence in football, even as they serve it up. Guys with microphones sometimes forget this. Lose the script. Or just don’t care. I’m not interpreting what actually happened, but merely what sometimes can. Given the nature of football. Given what it actually is.